Stacking device



' Dec 28, 1965 G. B. FOSSENIER STACKING DEVICE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 8, 1963 INVENTOR. Gnu-MN fl- Kari/1:0

Dec. 28, 1965 G. B. FOSSENIER 3,225,942

STACKING DEVICE Filed March 8, 1963 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR Germain B. FOSSENIER AGENT accompanying drawing.

United States Patent 3,225,942 STACKING DEVICE Germain B. Fossenier, New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada, assignor to Dominion Tar & Chemical Company, Limited, Montreal, Quebec, Canada Filed Mar. 8, 1963, Ser. No. 263,824 4 Claims. (Cl. 2146) The present invention relates to a device for stacking. More particularly it is concerned with a machine for ricking ties.

Heretofore ricking was done by manual labor. As ties were unloaded from box cars and the like they were manually piled to form ricks. This was laborious and time-consuming with resultant high cost.

With the present invention ricks may be piled faster and labor cost may be reduced. Ties are unloaded onto a belt conveyor or the like and fed to the ricking machine of the present invention where they are piled into ricks.

It is an object of this invention to provide a ticking device which is of simple construction and is easily operated.

It is a further object to provide means whereby ties fed to the machine will be automatically ricked.

Further features and advantages will be evident from the following disclosure read in conjunction with the FIG. 1 is a perspective view of one form of the ricker with parts being removed for clarity.

.of skids 2A, 2A;.a pair of pivoted slides 2, 2 for accumulating ties; a pair of rams '3, 3 operating a pusher 3A for'positioning ties on the slides 2, 2; which constitute an accumulator for the ties; a pallet 4 upon which the ties are piled to form a rick; and a platform 5 for rotatably mounting the pallet 4.

Conveyor bands 1, 1 are each mounted on a front pulley 6 and a rear pulley 7. The pulleys 6 are in turn mounted on axle 8 while pulleys 7 are mounted on axle 9. Each end of axle 8 and 9 turn in bearings 10 mounted on frame members 11 and 12 of auxiliary frame 20. Drive for the conveyor bands 1, 1 may be provided by any suitable means such as an electric motor 70 suitably geared via gearing 72 to the shaft 9.

The auxiliary frame includes the forementioned members 11 and 12 which stand on a pair of rear legs indicated as 13 and 14. The front of said members 11 and 12 are attached to and supported by a cross member 15 which forms part of a main frame 30. A pair of members 16 and 17 extend between frame members -11 and 12 to complete the auxiliary frame 20. The motor 70 may be mounted on member 17 in any suitable manner.

Rams 3, 3 may be suitably mounted On cross members 16 and 17 in such a manner that when extended the pusher 3A engages a tie on skids 2A, 2A and pushes it into the ends of slides 2, 2. This pusher 3A is dimensioned to pass between skids 2A, 2A of the chute and contact a tie.

The main frame 30 has a pair of cross members including the aforementioned member 15 and a further cross member 18. These cross members 15 and 18 stand on vertical legs 19, 21, 22 and 23. A pair of base members 24 and connect legs 19 and 21 and legs 22 and 23 respectively. A further pair of structural membems 26 and 27 extend between cross members 15 and 18 at the ends of said members 15 and 18 as shown in the drawings. Thus a main frame for support of the slides 2, 2 is provided.

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As shown in the drawing slides 2, 2 are attached to pivot rods 28 and 29 by brackets 31. These rods 29 and 28 are mounted at their ends in bearings 32, 32 and 33, 33 respectively which in turn are fixed to cross members 15 and 18 of the main frame 30.

Each of the slides 2, 2 consist of an angle having a horizontal flange 34 and a vertical flange 35. Slides 2, 2 are so located by the brackets 31, pivot rods 28 or 29 and bearings 32 or 33 that, when in the position to support ties as illustrated, the flanges 34 are in line or slightly below the skids 2A, 2A and flanges 35, are spaced to allow ties to slide therebetween while supported on said flanges 34. A pair of hydraulic cylinders 36 and 37 operate to pivot slides 2, 2 to dump ties onto the pallet 4. Said cylinders 36 and 37 are pivoted to structural members 26 and 27 respectively while the pistons of said cylinders are pivotably attached to slides 2, 2 (see FIG.2).

Pallet 4 may be of any suitable construction. In the embodiment shown the pallet includes a base member 38 with a pair of upright blocks 39 and 40 extending along a pair of opposite edges of said base 38. Blocks 39 and 40 are dimensioned to support the rick and to allow ease of handling of a formed rick by a fork lift truck or the like. The pallet 4 is pivoted on platform 5 as will be more specifically described hereinafter.

Referring now to the platform 5 which in the illustrated embodiment includes a pair of spaced horizontal member 41 and 42 suspended at their ends by supports indicated at 43, 44, 45, and 46. Supports 43 and 44 are coupled by member 47 which is attached to the piston 48 of hydraulic cylinder 49. The cylinder 49 is in turn mounted on base 24. Similarly supports 45 and 46 are coupled by a member 50 which is supported by piston 51 of a hydraulic cylinder 52 mounted on base 25. These cylinders 49 and 52 function to raise and lower platform 5 and thus pallet 4 during operation of the machine.

As best shown in FIG. 2, the pallet 4 is rotatable on a pivot pin 74 mounted in suitable bearing 76 on the platform 5. As illustrated, a support plate 78 supports the bearing 76 together with the drive mechanism for rotation of the pallet 4. This plate 78 extends between the two members 41 and 42 of the platform 5.

The pallet 4 in the illustrated embodiment is rotated about pivot pin 74 by the motor 80 through a speed reducer 82 via gear 84 and ring gear 86 secured to the pallet 4. 1

Control means are provided for controlling the sequence of operation of the machine to form a rick. In the preferred embodiment a photo electric device including a light source 53 and a photo electric cell 54 sense the ties fed by the conveyor bands 1, 1. This photo electric cell may be suitably located to sense each tie as it leaves the conveyor bans 1, 1. A suitable gate means may be provided to prevent ties from proceeding down the chute skids 2A except as desired. In place of the gate means hereinabove referred to the drive of conveyor bands 1, 1 may be controlled to feed ties only as desired. The photo electric cell actuates a sequence controller which in turn actuates the various parts of the machine in proper sequence in accordance with the number of ties sensed. The sequence controller will probably include a patterned circuit relying on the count of ties by light beam to sequence each operation.

Operation Ties are fed from an unloading station or the like and are placed onto conveyor bands 1, 1 to straddle same. At the beginning of a cycle platform 5 with pallet 4 is raised to a position slightly beneath accumulating slides 2, 2. Ties from the conveyor bands 1, 1 proceed down the skids 2A, 2A and are pushed, one by one, via pusher 3A onto the slides 2, 2. After ties, which are counted by the photo electric cell, are accumulated on slides 2, 2 the sequence controller actuates cylinders 36 and 37 to snap said slides 2, 2 from under the 10 accumulated ties and allow the ties to drop onto the pallet 4. The sequence controller then actuates cylinders 49 and 52 to lower the pallet 4 a distance equal to at least the thickness of the ties. At this time the drive of pallet 4 is also actuated to rotate the pallet through a 90 movement, thus positioning the ties to receive a stringer. A single tie is now counted, slid down skids 2A, 2A and pushed by pusher 3A onto the adjacent end of slides 2, 2. The sequence of dumping, lowering and rotation of 90 of the pallet is repeated. There is now a layer of 10 ties plus a stringer extending transverse to said 10 ties adjacent to the end of the latter on the pallet 4 and the pallet is in position to receive another batch of 10 ties. Another 10 ties are counted, accumulated on slides 2, 2 and dropped. Pallet 4 is again lowered and rotated 90 and a single tie is then counted, pushed onto slides 2, 2 and dropped. The above procedure continues until a sufficient number of layers of 10 ties with single tie or stringer between the layers have been accumulated on the pallet 4. Thus a rick is piled on the pallet 4 with each layer of 10 ties, having one end resting on an adjacent layer and the opposite end on a transverse stringer (see FIG. 2).

It is noted that 10 ties are referred to in the above example as constituting a layer. This is not critical and is subject to variation. There should be sufiicient ties so that their combined thicknesses will equal the length of one tie. Also more than one transverse stringer may be used if desired.

After the last layer of 10 ties has been dropped the pallet 4 may again be lowered and rotated 90. A first single tie may then be accumulated on slides 2, 2 and dropped. The pallet is lowered, as before and rotated 180. A second single tie is accumulated and dropped to take its place at the edge remote from the edge where said first single tie is positioned. The thu positioned first and second single ties allow ease of handling when ricks are stacked as the opening between said ties is readily accessible for a fork lift truck. When a completed rick has been formed, a further lowering and 90 rotation is made to orient the rick for easy handling with a fork lift truck. At this point power to the machine may be automatically cut oflf.

The complete operation of the machine including control of the gate means or drive control of bands 1,1 control of the cylinders 3,3, 36, 37, 49 and 52, and control of the means for rotating pallet 4 is accomplished by a sequence controller in accordance with the count of ties by the photo electric cell of the like.

It is noted that variations may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention disclosed, The

device may for example be manually controlled and the senser and sequence controller be dispensed with, but it is preferred to use an automatic control.

1. An apparatus for stacking ties into ricks having alternate rows containing different predetermined numbers of ties with the ties in any one row being substantially parallel to each other and with the ties in adjacent rows oriented substantially degrees, said apparatus comprising: -a pair of spaced parallel slides for accumulating said predetermined different number of ties, said spaced slides being positioned to support said ties by engaging said ties adjacent their opposite ends, means individually moving ties onto and positioning each tie adjacent one end of said slides, said ties extending substantially transversely between said pair of slides, means for shifting of slides from a supporting position wherein said slides would support ties adjacent to their opposite ends and a dumping position wherein said ties are substantially simultaneously freed tofall, a receiver mounted for rotation about a vertical axis beneath said slides, means for rotating said receiver 90 degrees after each predetermined number of ties has been dumped and means for vertically moving said receiver to lower said receiver in steps substantially equal to the thickness of the ties being ricked.

2. An apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein each said slide is pivotably mounted on an axis substantially parallel to said slides and wherein said means for shifting, pivots said slide about said axis to dump any ties supported on said slides.

3. An apparatus as defined in claim 2 further comprising means for sensing each tie fed to said apparatus, a sequence controller for controlling the operation of said means for moving, said means for shifting, said means for rotating and said means for vertically moving to automatically pile ties into a rick on said receiver.

4. An apparatus as defined in claim 2 wherein said means for individually moving comprises: a pusher mounted to engage and move each tie and push same into position on said one end of said slide.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,414,998 5/1922 Allen.

2,012,220 8/1935 Chambers 214l52 2,675,928 4/1954 Slater.

2,815,870 12/1957 Laub.

2,901,128 8/1959 Barski.

2,902,182 9/1959 Thomas 214152 2,928,559 3/ 1960 Mosely.

3,022,904 2/ 1962 Shires.

3,081,888 3/1963 Lawson.

GERALD M. FORLENZA, Primary Examiner.

MORRIS TEMIN, HUGO O. SCHULZ, Examiners. 

1. AN APPARATUS FOR STACKING TIES INTO RICKS HAVING ALTERNATE ROWS CONTAINING DIFFERENT PREDETERMINED NUMBERS OF TIES WITH THE TIES IN ANY ONE ROW BEING SUBSTANTIALLY PARALLEL TO EACH OTHER AND WITH THE TIES IN ADJACENT ROWS ORIENTED SUBSTANTIALLY 90 DEGREES, SAID APPARATUS COMPRISING: A PAIR OF SPACED PARALLEL SLIDES FOR ACCUMULATING SAID PREDETERMINED DIFFERENT NUMBER OF TIES, SAID SPACED SLIDES BEING POSITIONED TO SUPPORT SAID TIES BY ENGAGING SAID TIES ADJACENT THEIR OPPOSITE ENDS, MEANS INDIVIDUALLY MOVING TIES ONTO AND POSITIONING EACH TIE ADJACENT ONE END OF SAID SLIDES, SAID TIES EXTENDING SUBSTANTIALLY TRANSVERSELY BETWEEN SAID PAIR OF SLIDES, MEANS FOR SHIFTING OF SLIDES FROMA A SUPPORTING POSITION WHEREIN SAID SLIDES 